As we have previously reported (see here and here ), this year saw the first major “GDPR warning wave” following the Munich I Regional Court’s ruling of January 20, 2022 – case number 3 O 17493/20 – regarding the incorrect integration of Google Fonts. In addition to a claim for damages, recipients were also requir to submit a cease-and-desist declaration for the use of Google Fonts and pay the legal fees – usually amounting to €367.23 The first “GDPR.
What is the legal background and what must a website operator take into account when integrating it? The first “GDPR
With the dynamic integration of technologies such as Google Fonts, a connection to Google servers in the USA can be establish and, new zealand business fax list among other things, the visitor’s IP address can be transmitt. This processing generally requires the consent of the data subject in accordance with Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR and Section 25 (1) TTDSG.
Do website operators have to expect further waves of warnings in the future due to a GDPR violation?
Until a court rules on whether such types of warnings, which obviously focus not on data protection but on. The payments of the person being warn, we are very proud of our are legitimate. The objection of so-called abuse of rights can in any case be rais.
Various warnings appear to be abusive for several reasons. It seems at least questionable whether the natural persons named in the warnings are actually the injured parties within the meaning of the claim for damages. The use of crawlers is much more likely here, since the timestamp on the websites usually makes it clear that the same person cannot have visited multiple websites within a fraction of a second. If an increasing number of unfound warnings are recei by various companies, it is easier to assume an abuse of the law, since the alleg victims are likely to have access the websites intentionally.
Current developments
The Berlin public prosecutor’s office has initiat proceedings against a Berlin lawyer and his client, the alleg representative of the “IG Datenschutz” (German Trade Union for Data Protection). They are accused of at least 2,418 cases of fraudulent warning letters and extortion. On December 21, searches were carri out in Berlin. Hanover, botswana business directory Ratzeburg, and Baden-Württemberg on behalf of the public prosecutor’s office. The law enforcement authorities accuse the defendants of having “. Sent warning letters to private individuals and small business owners nationwide who had us so-call “Google Fonts” – an interactive directory with over 1,400 fonts that determine the typeface of a website – on their websites. At the same time, they were offer the opportunity to avoid civil proceedings by paying a settlement of €170 each.
What other technologies could come into focus for warning law firms in the future?
user behavior is analyzed to ensure that the website user is a human and not a so-called bot. For this purpose, previously installed Google cookies and previous browser interactions are used, among other things. To evaluate this behavio visitor’s IP address or the referrer URL are also forwarded to Google for evaluation.